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*May 26, 2023*






Dear Friends,

The legislative session wrapped up Monday, May 22. As a father and an educator, I went to St. Paul as a first-time representative hoping to work on policies that will support our community, provide families with permanent, meaningful tax relief, and ensure every student receives a great education.

I am proud that I was able to secure critical funding for several important infrastructure projects in our community. District 54B now has the funding we need for improvements to Highway 162/282 in Jordan, river bank stabilization in Shakopee, and boat ramps in Prior Lake.

Despite these victories, I am disappointed in this session. When the legislature convened in January, Minnesota had a nearly $18 billion surplus. Instead of returning the surplus, the Democrat majority decided to raise taxes by nearly $10 billion. Our new state budget is set to grow by 40%. Family budgets haven?t grown by 40% in the last two years, so why should government?

Democrats failed their bipartisan campaign promise to fully eliminate the tax on social security and support seniors. Promises of $2,000 rebate checks were also tossed aside as the majority spent more of your surplus. Those rebate checks will now be $260 for individuals making less than $75,000.

Democrats also promised to fully fund education, but despite their $2.2 billion education budget, they are not taking victory laps. It seems this historic investment is still not deemed enough to push their agenda that pushes more mandates and takes away local control from school districts.

This session, Minnesota?s Legislators heard from over 1,000 superintendents, principals, teachers, paraprofessionals, mental health professionals, parents, and community leaders this session expressing concerns about the majority?s education legislation. Taking the same budget target as the Democrats ($2.2 billion), my House Republican colleagues and I crafted our own plan that would put students first and support parents, teachers, administrators, and school boards.

The House Republican proposal puts substantially more money on the funding formula ? $1.1 billion compared to the Democrats? $720 million ? and leaves out many of the mandates included in the Democrats? budget. As a lifelong educator, I know firsthand that teachers and administrators need flexibility to meet the needs of students in their community. We developed this plan to allow local districts the funding and flexibility to meet those individual needs. I believe this will empower our local districts to innovate opportunities for their staff and students.

We also put $250 million towards improving literacy, while the Democrat budget that passed only appropriates $75 million and removes the grade level reading proficiency by 3rd grade requirement. While Democrats gave $54 million to nonprofits over more funding for school districts, Republicans would have given $0. Our Republican plan would have given $78 million for mental health and school safety. Democrats passed only $64 million.

I am disappointed that bipartisanship failed this session. Republicans wanted to work with Democrats to support families and make our schools the best in the nation. Unfortunately, our ideas to deliver permanent, meaningful tax relief and put students over mandates were shutdown. Minnesotans deserve balance in government. As we begin to see the impacts of the 2023 legislative session in the months to come, more will find that there is no balance in St. Paul under complete Democrat control.






Please Contact Me

Even though we are out of session, please continue to reach out if I can be of any assistance to you. You can reach me by phone at 651-296-5185 or by email at [email protected].?

Have a great weekend!?

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Ben











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329 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55155
ph: 651.296.5185







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